©Laurie Pace Graphics One Design 2023
Dancing in the Moonlight
24 x 24 in Oils on Canvas
SOLD and Living in Florida!
by Laurie Pace
Shop other Available Artwork.
Shop other Available Artwork.
“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey
This painting "Dancing in the Moonlight" lives in Florida. It was painted just before we moved out of Dallas for East Texas. I love horses and I love watching them dance and play with each other. This horse is dancing with the night sky above him. His mane is whipping in several directions at the same time. Stretching his head high and then low... he enjoys the sounds and beauty of the night sky.
The Night
Until we lived on the lake, I never saw the night sky like I did over those three years. We had lived out in the country before, well sort of, but the city lights were right there nearby. Here on the lake it was different. Sometimes I felt like it was daylight brilliance on those deep dark summer nights. We left the city of Dallas, over blown with population, in early 2010 and escaped all the traffic... the constant air highways of the landing airplanes at Love Field and DFW Airports, The Railroad moving freight, The Rail trains, the city buses... it all adds up. Here almost three hours away, the closest freeway was about twenty miles north of us... no car noises there. We found our home in the woods, or as our grand daughter called it, "The Cottage in the Woods." We lived on a dead end street with the lake surrounding most of the houses, our part on the lake was a damn between the lake and the big cat fish pond behind us... maybe 30 feet from the back of the house part of our back yard.
We had a symphony of bull frogs every night! In early summer we had windows open and the symphony roared at us in bed. We both giggled and left the windows open. Drapes pulled back and the stars peaking in and out of the tree tops as the night breeze made them dance to the symphony. East Texas is forested with thick trees.
There were first nights after we moved in, we spent the early evening after dark, in the hot tub on the deck... still apprehensive of neighbors, grabbing a thick terry cloth robe to run from the house to the deck extending out to the pond where the symphony grew louder... just as we settled into the warm waters. No swim suits were needed.
The skies were dark inky blue and in places you could see the blue layers build up one stroke at a time until it reached the deepest dark. That is when I realized the deeper shades of night. Vincent van Gogh once said, "At present I absolutely want to paint a starry sky. It often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And without my expatiating on this theme it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky.”
This was the most peaceful place I have ever lived. We moved back because I have extreme mold allergies and by the mid second year it hit full force. My only relief was to leave our 'cottage' and spend time at my daughter's home.
Follow the Spirit of the Paint... with Laurie Pace
“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever." Psalm 30:11-12
Laurie Pace - A Texas Artist
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
GALLERY LINKS
© Graphics One Design 2023
Comments